Packing or wrapping machines of the mould wheel type

ABSTRACT

A mechanism for taking each cigarette packet from a packing machine and depositing alternate ones in upper and lower rows so that the two rows may be boxed together. The apparatus comprises two similar arms rotatable about different axes and carrying packet-gripping means which go through paths having a common point to receive the packets and two different output points are above the other to produce the two rows.

United States Patent I 15] 3,685,631 451 Aug. 22, 1972 Harris [54] PACKING OR WRAPPING MACHINES OF THE MOULD WHEEL TYPE [72] Inventor: Richard William Harris, London,

England [73] Assignee: Molins Machine Company Limited,

London, England [22] Filed: Aug. 18, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 64,688

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 25, 1969 Great Britain ..42,l92/69 [52] US. Cl ..198/31 AA [51] Int. Cl ..B65g 47/26 [58] Field of Search...198/31 AA, 210, 34, 127, 211;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,204,386 9/1965 Creed et a1 ..198/31 AA 2,762,274 9/1956 Kerr ..198/210 2,417,472 3/1947 Dorff ..198/210 3,095,961 6/1963 Hollyday ..198/128 2,984,337 5/1961 Couch et a1 ..198/31 AA 2,194,219 3/1940 Eggleston ..193/35 A 3,240,311 3/1966 Hofer et al ..198/34 2,714,439 8/1955 Prickett et a1. ..198/211 X FORElGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 549,537 12/1957 Canada 198/3 AA Primary Examiner-Richard E. Aegerter Assistant Examiner-Douglas D. Watts Attorney-Craig, Antonelli & Hill [5 7] ABSTRACT ferent output points are above the other to produce the two rows.

9 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure PACKING R WRAPPING MACHINES OF THE MOULD WHEEL TYPE The present invention relates to mechanism for producing a plurality of output flows of articles from a single input flow of the articles.

In US. Pat. No. 3,380,227 there is disclosed a packing or wrapping machine of the mould wheel type in which a succession of rigid rectangular boxes are each enclosed in an outer transparent wrapper while each article is on a mould in the mould wheel.

The present invention is more particularly concerned with providing an arrangement for receiving the wrapped articles from the mould wheel and arranging the wrapped articles in two rows stacked one upon the other so that the two rows of articles can be boxed together.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for producing a plurality of flows of articles from a single flow of the articles comprising a first member rotatable about a first axis, and a second member rotatable about a second axis displaced from the first axis, article-gripping means mounted on each member, the shape of the path of each member being such, and the position of the axes being such, that the paths both pass adjacent to the input flow of articles for the article-gripping means each to receive an article, and are displaced from each other at first and second output points at which the articles are released by the article-gripping means to form two flows of articles.

The two axes may by horizontal and vertically spaced apart so that the output flows are formed as rows one above the other.

Each member may be an arm pivoted on the axis at its center, an article-gripping means being provided at each end of the arm so that the two article-gripping means on an arm are 180 out of phase.

Each article-gripping means may comprise a first bell crank pivotally mounted at the end of the arm and a second bell crank pivotally mounted on the first bell crank, the two bell cranks carrying first and second cam followers respectively, the first and second cam followers carried by one arm being spring loaded into contact with first and second cams respectively of a first pair of stationary cams, and the first and second cam followers on the other arm being spring loaded into contact with first and second cams respectively of a second pair of stationary earns, the cams being shaped so that as the cam followers pass the input flow the article-gripping means grips an article, and as the cam followers pass the output point the article-gripping means is opened to release the article.

There may be provided a guide arrangement for receiving the articles at the output points, the guide arrangement including a first guide to form one row of articles and a second guide to form a second row of articles, means being associated with the two guides for decelerating the articles as they travel along the two guides from the point at which they are released from the article-gripping means.

The decelerating means may comprise a plurality of which is a side elevational view of one embodiment of the invention.

A portion of the periphery of the mould wheel of a wrapping machine of the mould wheel type shown in the aforementioned patent is shown at l, the mould wheel rotating in the direction of the arrow X. Apparatus, according to the invention for receiving wrapped articles from the mould wheel 1 and forming them into two superimposed rows is generally indicated by the reference numeral 2.

A first arm 3 having two ends 3a-and 3b is rotatable about a first fixed axis 4. A second arm 5 having two ends 5a and 5b is rotatable about a second fixed axis 6. The ends 3a and 3b are 180 out of phase with one another and the ends 50 and 5b are 180 out of phase with one another.

Though the arms 3 and 5 have separate axes 4 and 6 they are rotated together in unison at to one another from a common drive (not shown). The shafts carrying the arms 3 and 5 each have mounted thereon a gearwheel driven by a further gearwheel driven from the wrapping machine.

Each of the ends of the arms 3 and 5 carries an identical mechanism which removes wrapped articles from the periphery of the mould wheel 1 at an input point A and deposits the articles either at an upper output point B1 in the case of arm 3, or at a lower output point B in the case of arm 5.

The mechanism consists of a first bellcrank 8 pivotally mounted at 9 to the end of the respective arm 3 or 5, and a second bellcrank 10 pivotally mounted at 11 to the bellcrank 8. The bellcranks 8 and 10 respectively carry first and second cam followers 12 and 13.

The followers 12 associated with the arm 3 run within parallel inner and outer cams 14a and 14b, and the corresponding followers 13 run upon a single cam 15; these cams are shown chain-dotted in the drawing. Similarly the followers 12 and 13 associated with the arm 5 coat with parallel cams 32a and 32b, and cam 33 respectively, the cams being shown in full lines.

A spring 17 is attached to each bellcrank 10 to hod the follower 13 in contact with the respective cams l5 and 33. Likewise a spring 16 maintains each follower 12 in contact with the respective inner cams 14a and 32a. It should be noted that the outer cams 14b and 32b serve in particular as a safety precaution to prevent a bellcrank 8 from becoming jammed with the mould wheel 1 in the event of a spring 16 failing.

The operation of the apparatus will now be described with reference firstly to the two mechanisms associated with the arm 3.

At the input point A the cam followers 12 and 13 coat with the cams 14a and 15 to cause a claw 10a of the bellcrank 10 to move towards a claw 8a of the bellcrank 8 to grip a wrapped article 7 carried on the mould wheel 1; the cam 14a is so shaped that in the vicinity of the input point A the bellcrank 8 travels substantially tangentially to the periphery of the mould wheel 1. Slightly prior to the gripping of the article 7 a plunger 18 carried by the mould wheel 1 urges the article 7 out of a mould pocket 19 in the periphery of the mould wheel 1 to release the article from the mould wheel 1.

The gripped article 7 is then carried from the input point A in the direction of arrow Y towards the upper output point 8,. Upon reaching point l3 the followers 12 and 13 coact with cams 14a and 15 to cause the bellcrank 8 and bellcrank 10 to pivot and move their respective claws 8a and 10a away from one another to release the article 7.

At point B the path of the ends 3a and 3b of the first arm 3 pass between the ends of two plates and 21 so that as the article 7 is released it moves between plates 20 and 21. After passing point B the followers 12 and 13 continue to coact with their associated cams to cause the bellcranks 10 and 8 to move away from each other in order to be ready to receive another wrapped article 7 between their claws 8a and 10a upon reaching point A again.

The operation of the two mechanisms at the ends of the second arm 5 is the same as that described for arm 3, except that in this case an article 7 is deposited at the lower output point B between plates 21 and 22, instead of at point 8,.

In either case the article 7 is guided laterally between a pair of double rollers 30 (only one shown) and then decelerated by an arrangement generally indicated by the reference 31.

The arrangement 31 comprises four pairs of rollers 23, 24, 25 and 26 respectively the peripheries of which project through apertures in the plates 20 and 22 to contact the articles 7. Each pair of rollers other than the rollers 23 is connected to its next adjacent succeeding roller by a driving band 27. Each band 27 passes around a first gear 28 at its upstream end and a second gear 29 at its downstream end; the gear 28 has a smaller diameter than the gear 29 so that a step-down gearing is effected.

The first pair of rollers 23 is driven by a motor (not shown) so that by virtue of the step-down drive between each pair of rollers and its next succeeding pair of rollers, the pair of rollers 24 is driven at a slower speed than the pair of rollers 23, the pair of rollers 25 is driven at a slower speed than the pair of rollers 24, and the pair of rollers 26 is driven at a slower speed than the pair of rollers 25. Thus, a wrapped article 7 is first decelerated by one roller of the pair of rollers 23, depending on whether it is in the upper or lower row and then further decelerated by each succeeding rollers of a pair 24, 25 and 26.

The plates 20 and 21 terminate at a point beyond the last pair of rollers 26 whereas the plate 22 continues beyond the termination of the plates 20 and 21 so that wrapped articles upon reaching the end of the plate 21 drop onto the row of articles formed on the plate 22 to thus form a composite row comprising pairs of vertically stacked articles. The vertically stacked pairs of articles are then subsequently packaged in pairs.

The apparatus described has general application in the packaging of any suitable article although it is specifically designed for taking a wrapped packet of cigarettes and forming the wrapped packets into vertically stacked pairs which can then be packaged in two rows by apparatus not illustrated.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for producing a plurality of flows of articles from a single input flow of the articles comprising a first member rotatable about a first axis, a second member rotatable at the same speed as the first member about a second axis parallel to and on the same side of the input flow as the first axis, articlegripping means mounted on each member. and cam means for actuating the article-gripping means to grip and to release an article, the shape of the path of each article-gripping means and the position of the first and second axes being such that the paths of the articlegripping means intersect at an input point of the single flow of articles at which the article-gripping means each grip an article, and are displaced from each other at adjacent first and second output points at which the articles are released by the articlegripping means to form two flows of articles.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the two axes are horizontal and are substantially vertically spaced apart so that the output flows are formed as rows one above the other.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein each member is an arm pivoted on the axis at its center, an article-gripping means being provided at each end of each arm so that the two article-gripping means on an arm are l out of phase and the angle between the two arms is substantially 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein each article-gripping means comprises a first bellcrank pivotally mounted at the end of the arm and carrying a first cam follower and a second bellcrank pivotally mounted on the first bellcrank and carrying a second cam follower, and wherein the cam means comprises first and second pairs of stationary earns, the first and second cam followers carried by one arm being spring loaded into contact with first and second cams respectively of the first pair of stationary cams, and the first and second cam followers on the other arm being spring loaded into contact with said first and second cams respectively of the second pair of stationary earns, the cams being shaped so that as the cam followers pass the input flow the article-gripping means grips an article, and as the cam followers pass the output point the article-gripping means is opened to release the article.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising a guide arrangement for receiving the articles at the output points, the guide arrangement including a first guide to form one row of articles and a second guide parallel to said first guide to form a second row of articles, means being associated with the two guides for decelerating the articles as they travel along the two guides from the point at which they are released from the article-gripping means.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the decelerating means comprises a plurality of pairs of rollers between which the articles pass, each pair of rollers being driven at a slower speed than the adjacent pair nearer the output points.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein the pair of rollers nearest to the output points are rotatable, and each succeeding pair of rollers is drivably connected to the preceding pair to be driven thereby, the driving connection incorporating stepdown gearing so that each pair of rollers is driven at a slower speed than the preceding pair.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein each pair of rollers drives the next succeeding pair through a driving band, the driving band passing round a first pulley on the said pair and a second pulley on the said next succeeding pair, the first pulley having a smaller diameter than the second pulley so that a step-down gearing is effected.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein the said first guide terminates short of the termination point of 5 

1. Apparatus for producing a plurality of flows of articles from a single input flow of the articles comprising a first member rotatable about a first axis, a second member rotatable at the same speed as the first member about a second axis parallel to and on the same side of the input flow as the first axis, article-gripping means mounted on each member, and cam means for actuating the article-gripping means to grip and to release an article, the shape of the path of each article-gripping means and the position of the first and second axes being such that the paths of the article-gripping means intersect at an input point of the single flow of articles at which the article-gripping means each grip an article, and are displaced from each other at adjacent first and second output points at which the articles are released by the article-gripping means to form two flows of articles.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the two axes are horizontal and are substantially vertically spaced apart so that the output flows are formed as rows one above the other.
 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein each member is an arm pivoted on the axis at its center, an article-gripping means being provided at each end of each arm so that the two article-gripping means on an arm are 180* out of phase and the angle between the two arms is substantially 90*.
 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein each article-gripping means comprises a first bellcrank pivotally mounted at the end of the arm and carrying a first cam follower and a second bellcrank pivotally mounted on the first bellcrank and carrying a second cam follower, and wherein the cam means comprises first and second pairs of stationary cams, the first and second cam followers carried by one arm being spring loaded into contact with first and second cams respectively of the first pair of stationary cams, and the first and second cam followers on the other arm being spring loaded into contact with said first and second cams respectively of the second pair of stationary cams, the cams being shaped so that as the cam followers pass the input flow the article-gripping means grips an article, and as the cam followers pass the output point the article-gripping means is opened to release the article.
 5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising a guide arrangement for receiving the articles at the output points, the guide arrangement including a first guide to form one row of articles and a second guide parallel to said first guide to form a second row of articles, means being associated with the two guides for decelerating the articles as they travel along the two guides from the point at which they are released from the article-gripping means.
 6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein the decelerating means comprises a plurality of pairs of rollers between which the articles pass, each pair of rollers being driven at a slower speed than the adjacent pair nearer the output points.
 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6 wherein the pair of rollers nearest to the output points are rotatable, and each succeeding pair of rollers is drivably connected to the preceding pair to be driven thereby, the driving connection incorporating stepdown gearing so that each pair of rollers is driven at a slower speed than the preceding pair.
 8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein each pair of rollers drives the next succeeding pair through a driving band, the driving band passing round a first pulley on the said pair and a second pulley on the said next succeeding pair, the first pulley having a smaller diameter than the second pulley so that a step-down gearing is effected.
 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein the said first guide terminates short of the termination point of the second guide so that articles forming a first row in the first guide fall on to articles forming the second row in the second guide to produce a composite single row of stacked pairs of articles. 